


A New Beginning

by wearethewitches



Series: tumblr prompts [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-03-01 19:34:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13301742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wearethewitches/pseuds/wearethewitches
Summary: prompt #1, a story titled 'A New Beginning', ft. Rumbelle + Gideon





	A New Beginning

 

They return to Rumple’s salmon-coloured house on the edge of town. Gideon sleeps soundly in Belle’s arms and Rumple can’t bear to lose contact with his wife, arm wrapped around her tightly. There’s a bassinet waiting in the basement of the shop, but it’s neither here nor are they there – so, once they’ve changed into clothes more suited for sleep, Gideon is cradled between them on the master bed.

“He’s so beautiful,” Belle whispers, hand resting on his small chest. Rumple thinks that Belle is right – he is. Gideon is bathed in more magic than he’s ever seen around a newborn child, a product of his de-aging, his forgetting – his renewal of life. But the magic only highlights what makes Gideon perfect, like the way he sighs in his sleep and balls his hands up.

Rumple thinks of Baelfire, how he looked when Rumple first saw him, only days old and just as perfect as his brother is now.

“He is,” Rumple agrees with his wife, making sure Gideon can’t get his limbs trapped in the sheets he lies upon. Belle glances at him, then and Rumple wonders if this is it: the moment where Belle tells him they’re to be separated and that he can visit Gideon whenever he likes. Rumple could take that, if that was what Belle wanted, needed – anything for his family and the ones he loves the most.

“I can’t make you promise me anything, anymore,” she says. “I won’t. I don’t want to hear you speaking about keeping us safe – I _know_ you will. But I want to know the things you do, at the end of the day. I want to know, when there’s a crisis, that afterwards, you’ll not lie or keep things from me. Do what you need to do. Just don’t lie to me.”

Rumple goes to promise, swear he won’t, but Belle brings the hand lying on Gideon to his lips.

“No more promises. No more oaths or vows. We both have bad habits, but swearing things you’ll only break isn’t something you should do, especially when you know it for certain, now. I’m not a paragon of virtue, Rumple, I’m not the Blue Fairy, the Saviour or your enemies – I’m your wife.”

“And I’m your husband,” Rumple replies, when she removes her hand. “We’re family.”

“Yes, we are.”

A silence passes, before Gideon wakes and Belle shifts in bed, feeding him. Rumple moves, too, coming to loop his arm around her shoulders and keep her warm in their cold house. Most likely, there will be monsters and enemies, come to destroy them all. Tomorrow is uncertain – but for now, Rumple will enjoy the time he has with Belle and his son.


End file.
